We are mortgage brokers who will help you buy your first home. As a first home buyer, there is a lot to learn when navigating this extensive process. As trusted and experienced home loan brokers, we can successfully guide you through the journey to your first home.
Making the big decision to buy a home, as opposed to renting, share-housing or living with the parents is one filled with nervous excitement. You want to have a place to call your own but often you don’t know where to start, and the idea of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, makes your heart race as it possibly is the biggest purchase of your life so far.
As experienced mortgage brokers, we want to remove the stress from applying for a home loan and make it easy for you to secure the home of your dreams, after all this is an exciting point in your life. We don’t expect you to know all the financial terms or the home buying process. Instead we will walk you through it, making sure you feel confident with each decision. It is important to us that you don’t feel pressured into buying a home or applying for a home loan.
When house prices begin at $400,000, it can be a little intimidating to consider saving $80,000 (or 20% of the home valuation). Luckily as a first home buyer, you have options where you can secure a home loan for as little as 5% of the purchase price. These are called 95% home loans and there are a couple of extra steps such as a Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR) which determines the amount of Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI) you will pay in addition to your loan. While an upfront charge, LMI can be added to your loan if you require it.
Figuring out your borrowing capacity and applying for pre-approval are the next steps in owning your home. Your borrowing capacity determines the amount you will be pre-approved for and is often determined by your income, your deposit and outstanding debts. This is a relatively simple process but the right broker will ask additional questions to determine your financial situation and lifestyle. This will provide you with a more accurate borrowing capacity and pre-approved amount.
When applying for your first home loan you will also need to consider additional costs such as registration fees, conveyancing fees, transfer fees, building and pest inspection charges, and lenders’ mortgage insurance. It can all be overwhelming but, we have a couple of calculators that can help you break down buying costs and repayment costs when it comes to considering loan amounts.
Brokers are independent of banks. We have no ties to any particular lenders and will always strive to secure the best deal for you.
As a first home buyer, you should use a broker to ensure you get the best home loan. At Melbourne Finance, we do the leg work for you and scour the lending market to find the right lending options for your financial situation.
We are personal, friendly and professional and we pride ourselves on it. We get to know every single one of our clients so we can create a complete picture of your financial situation. Our home loan experts have years of experience working with first-home buyers and we understand what you are going through. If you are still not convinced, here is why we are the best brokers for first-home buyers in Melbourne.
However, maybe the best reason you should choose a broker is that we come at no extra cost to you. We charge the banks a fee for our services but provide you with the support and knowledge you need to purchase your first home.
Lenders will need to be able to see at least five percent of genuine savings before considering taking on your home loan. We recommend setting aside a portion of your paycheck into a separate savings account.
Consider the areas you would like to live in and begin researching. Property reports are released monthly on sites such as realestate.com.au and they can give you a good idea of the median selling price of homes.
(Now is also the best time to lock in a mortgage broker so you can begin the process)
The first step in applying for a home loan is pre-approval. During pre-approval our team get to know you, your financial situation and will collect all the documents needed to begin the loan application.
After determining your borrowing capacity and gaining pre-approval from a lender, it is time to make an offer and secure your first home in Melbourne. As a general practice if you are purchasing an existing dwelling, give yourself some wriggle room in case they come back with a counteroffer. If you are going to auctions make sure to consider having a buyers agent on your side to help ease the process (if you need help selecting one, we know a few).
After making an offer and valuing your home it is now time to draw up the loan documents, obtain full approval and determine a settlement date. At Melbourne Finance we will find you the best deal and walk you through this entire process to ensure you understand everything you are signing.
We may not be there on move-in day but we will send you a little something to celebrate. This is a huge milestone so make sure you celebrate it with friends and family!